Fabulous Financials & Fitness

HEALTHY

I’m about 2.5 months into my health & fitness journey and I think I’ve developed a few intuitive habits.  So I’m going to scale back the goal setting & reporting from weekly to monthly, beginning with March.  If I begin to slip or find that I’m more successful with more specific details, I will revert back to weekly goals.  For now, here are my plans for March:

Fitness:

• Complete Week 9 of C25K – the FINAL week consisting of three 30 minute runs.  I am sooo excited about this.  Not only have I stuck with the program, I’m super excited about my progress to date.
• After completing the C25K program, I will continue running at least 3 days per week for a minimum of 30 minutes.  My primary focus will be to improve my distance and speed.  By the Fall, I’d like to run a 5k.
• Increase my workouts from 3 days to 5 days per week by incorporating 2 days of strength training.  The running gives me medium to high intensity cardio exercise, but I need something else to work on other areas of my body.  My fitness center has weight machines, so I may search for a structured online program (similar to C25K) and do it by myself or I may decide to hire a personal trainer.
• My annual physical has been rescheduled to mid-March.  Remember that was one of my motivation milestones.  I’m nervous about this appointment.  The results will either make me very, very happy or scared enough to kick me into full throttle fitness.

Nutrition:

• ALWAYS eat breakfast, take iron supplement, and incorporate lots of fruits, veggies, and water into my daily diet.
• Continue creating weekly meal plans.  I will share them on the blog if I run across something new and interesting.
• Prepare all meals at home with the option of 2-3 per month outside the home if there is a special occasion or work related function.
• Introduce at least 2 new healthy foods to my diet.  This will not be hard because my diet is very limited.  I have a list of new foods I want to try (steel oats, zucchini, greek yogurt, eggplant, asparagus, squash, etc.).  The challenge is finding meals that I can prepare and would want to repeat often.

Weigh-In:

• Lose -1.2 lbs during the first week of March.  Strange number, huh?  I want to complete the the C25K Running Plan with a total weight loss of at least -20 lbs.
• Lose a minimum of -1 lb in each subsequent week.  On my last weigh-in for the month, which is March 27 and the start of spring break, I want a total weight loss of at least -25 lbs.

Accountability:

• Include God in my plans, read/write in my prayer journal at least 3x per week
• Track my nutrition and exercise daily using SparkPeople
• Report updates (failures & success) on Twitter, FB, and/or this blog

WEALTHY

My financial behavior is pretty intuitive so it isn’t necessary to track anything weekly OR monthly.  However, it may be fun to share with you how I plan to spend money in March.

• Taxes: I plan to have my taxes filed and refunded (practicing positive thinking, work with me here) by the end of the month.  I also need to schedule a follow up with my accountant to review tax plans for 2010 just to make sure I’m still on track.
• Vacation: Use tax refund (assuming there will be one) to have fun and splurge during spring break, March 27 – April 3.  If we don’t take a week long vacation, we may visit ATL or Miami for an extended weekend.
• Gifts: One of my close friends has a birthday coming up.  Not sure what’s in store, but I know whatever it is will require a gift or a girl’s night out.  If the latter, a new outfit may be on the horizon to go with my new shoes.
• Want List: My ‘want list’ has been growing since January and I think it’s about time I treat myself.  I ‘want’ a Wii and Wii Fit Plus.  I ‘want’ a KitchenAid blender.  I ‘want’ a pair of princess cut 1/4 carat diamond earrings.  And I ‘want’ a new bedroom set.  At least one of these things will be marked off my ‘want’ list by the end of March.
• Investments: As usual, continue bi-weekly contributions to my 401k, IRA, non-retirement, BG’s 529, and regular savings account.  By the end of March, I should meet 25% of my annual financial goals.

What are your goals and aspirations for March?

Results for the week of Feb 14-20:

• Fitness: I completed Week 7 of C25K – a full week of running 25 minutes nonstop. Yay!
• Nutrition: I ate breakfast, drank more water, took iron Rx, and prepared almost every meal at home (except V-day and Saturday dinner).  V-day dinner was bad bad bad, but Saturday’s dinner was just a caribbean grilled chicken salad.  Overall, I ate way more veggies: love kale and spinach, hated the veggie juice challenge. *gag*
• Weigh-In: My goal was to lose -1.5 lbs this week.  As of Saturday morning, I lost another -1.6 lbs for a total weight loss of -17.8 lbs!

New goals for the week of Feb 21 – Feb 27:

HEALTHY

• Fitness: Complete Week 8 of C25K – three 28 minute runs.
• Nutrition: Breakfast, iron Rx, fruits, veggies, and lots of water daily.  Also, prepare every meal at home.  Our weekly meal plan includes:
  • Sunday: Lowfat spinach lasagna
  • Monday: Leftovers
  • Tuesday: Vegan sausage, whole wheat penne pasta & veggies
  • Wednesday: Leftovers
  • Thursday: Homemade veggie pizza on whole wheat dough
  • Friday: Turkey meatball sandwiches with salad
  • Saturday: Quesadillas with chicken & veggies on whole wheat tortillas
• Weigh-In: My goal for this week is to lose another 1 lb.  To accomplish this goal, I will use SparkPeople to track my nutrition and exercise everyday, read/write in my prayer journal, and ask God to strengthen me when I’m weak and help me to resist temptation.

WEALTHY

I’ve been slacking on the finance updates so I plan to incorporate them when I have something relevant to share.  This week, my personal finance goal is to book reservations for our spring break vacation and spend no more than $1,500.  I also plan to meet with the accountant this week to file my taxes.  Hopefully he can find more deductions so I won’t owe Uncle Sam as much as I think I do. *fingers crossed*

Aight y’all!  It’s a new week and a new opportunity.  If you’ve been slacking on your New Year’s resolutions annual goals, jump back on the bandwagon and let’s get it in!

This is a question people ask me at least 3x per week.  In response, I’ve written, deleted, re-written, edited, changed my mind, deleted, and re-written this post several times in the past several weeks. This time, I’m going to roll with it, but I’ll try to keep it short.

Fabulous Financials is my online home and I miss it. But…I don’t miss blogging about personal finance every single day.  However, I love blogging and I love my readers, so I’ve been thinking about returning to the blogosphere with a different focus.

If you follow me on Twitter, you already know what I’ve been up to lately.  For those who don’t, I’ve committed to a permanent lifestyle change of health & fitness. Here’s my vision board for 2010.

As you can see, health & fitness is front and center in my life right now.  And you already know, when I set my mind to something, I live and breathe my goals and tackle them with unyielding determination.  Since the week of December 20th, I have made the following improvements:

• From thinking of food as comfort and convenience –> To thinking of food as merely fuel for my body.
• From drinking zero water –> To drinking at least 24-32 oz every day.
• From dining out 4-5x per week –> To creating weekly meal plans and preparing healthy meals at home at least 5x per week.
• From skipping breakfast and gorging on junk for lunch and dinner –> To eating 3 balanced meals per day followed by 3 healthy snacks.
• From reaching for a candy bar –> To reaching for a piece of fruit.
• From a sedentary lifestyle –> To exercising a minimum of 3x per week with other “fun” physical activities in between.
• From walking and being winded after 10 minutes –> To run/walk intervals for a minimum of 30 minutes at 4 mph on a 1% incline.  I’m about to begin Week 5 of the C25K running plan.  If all goes well and God is willing, I hope to run my first 5k later this year.
• And last, but not least, an 11.2 lb weight loss…and counting.

I still have a burning passion for personal finance.  It is a part of who I am and that will never change.  My financial goal is still to save and invest $47,500 this year.  But as I told my tweeps a few weeks ago, my new LIFETIME GOAL is to be Healthy & Wealthy.

I will return to blogging if you will join me on this new journey. What say you?  Free free to leave a comment below and/or respond to the embedded poll:

A new year is upon us and everyone is reflecting on the past or planning for the future.  I’ve done well in 2009, but there are more things I want to accomplish in 2010.  For example:

1.  Financials: As always, I will pay myself first before I distribute one red cent to anyone.  In order of priority: 401k ($16,500), IRA ($5,000) BabyGirl’s college fund ($2,000), investments ($12,000), regular savings ($12,000), and remaining debt free – these are my basic financial goals.  I divide each goal by 26, the number of paychecks in a year.  Then I set up an allotment through payroll and authorize them to send a specific amount to each account automatically.  The money never touches my hands.  Barring any major life emergencies, it creates a fool proof way to reach my financial goals by the end of the year.

2.  Vacation: We are definitely going to Europe in 2010 – Paris and London to be exact.  We’ll spend 3-4 days in each city and my budget is $5K-$7k.  I was hoping to travel in July as a graduation gift to BabyGirl, but depending on which school we choose, she may have to attend an 8 week summer session.  For now, our travel plans are pending college decisions.

3. Decide What’s Next: Now that I’ve mastered the basics of personal finance, talking about paying off debt, saving money, retirement investing, and living within your means is boring to me.  In addition to that, I will soon have an empty nest and enter a new phase in my personal life.  What does the future have in store?  Who knows.  I have to create it.

What are YOUR goals for 2010?

In January, I created seven personal finance goals for myself.  Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail miss the target.  Let’s see what I accomplished in 2009.  I said I would:

1. MAXIMIZE INVESTMENT CONTRIBUTIONS – contribute the maximum ($23,500) to all of my investment accounts by December 2009: 401k: $16,500 – ‘09 max, IRA: $5,000 – ‘09 max, and BabyGirl’s 529: $2,000 – tax deductible max.

Success!  This is only the second year I’ve maxed out my retirement accounts. Thanks to automatic payroll allotments, I’ve learned to live without the money because I never see it.  I set it and forget it. Barring any major life changing events, I plan to max out my annual retirement contributions until the golden age arrives.

2. MEET ALL PERSONAL SAVINGS GUIDELINES – in order to save at least 25% of my “net” income, I need to save an additional $11,750 by December 2009.

Success! As of December 5th, I have saved/invested over $29,500.  This was made possible by avoiding lifestyle creep after my salary increase.

3. SAVE $2,000 IN “BABYGIRL’S SENIOR YEAR EXPENSE” ACCOUNT – class of 2010 baby!  So you know what that means?  Lots of fun expenses!  By the end of December 2009, I will save (and probably spend part of) $2k for planned senior year expenses.

Success!  See above explanation.  To date, we’ve spent $875 of the planned/saved $2,000.  And the spring break/prom/graduation season hasn’t even begun. Oh my!

4. EARN $500/MONTH FROM ONLINE OPPORTUNITIES – I think it’s a stretch goal because I’m slowly losing my spark for blogging.  Not only do I post less frequently, but I’ll admit, the quality of my writing is slowly diminishing.  Am I losing my passion for personal finance or simply getting bored?  Whatever it is, I hope to get my mojo back soon.

At the beginning of the year, I knew something was off and I haven’t been able to get my groove back since then.  I still update the blog sporadically and I don’t participate in the PF blogging community the way I used to.  No more excuses and no more empty promises – I will NOT return to daily blogging.  *shrug*  At any rate, according to my records, I’ve earned on average ~$350/month from online activities.  Not quite a success, but not bad considering minimal effort.

5. ENJOY ONE “MAJOR” VACATION – I’ve been wanting to see Paris and London for almost 2 years now.  However, a cruise or any Caribbean island will suit me just fine.

Partial success.  I’ve decided to postpone Europe until 2010 so I can take BabyGirl as a graduation gift.  I did, however, go on a fabulous Caribbean cruise.

6. REMAIN NON-MORTGAGE DEBT FREE – I’ve been non-mortgage debt free since November 2007, but this goal is worth repeating every single year.  No debt.  No debt.  No debt.

Success!  No explanation needed.

7. NET WORTH – although I failed miserably last year, I will go on a limb and try to hit that $200,000 target again by the end of 2009. That’s an increase of over $37,000.  Don’t laugh, it’s worth trying! LOL

I met the goal in October, but due to current market fluctuations, I wanted to wait a few months to make sure it was real. As of December 5th, my net worth is ~$215,000. Now I can say with confidence, this goal is a success!

Overall, I’d consider 2009 to be a year of FABULOUS FINANCIALS and give myself an A minus for achieving my personal finance goals.

How did you perform in 2009?